School is finally over for 2015. Term 1 was really rewarding and I put everything I had into it. But I was so beat and tired, I really needed a holiday. I worked so hard that I earned a wonderful visit from my mom! We had such a blast. We explored the markets in Castries and hiked in the rainforest. We went on the MaHaut trail which is a little under 3 miles but the hardest part was how slippery every step was since it was so humid and wet. It was so green and beautiful but the best part was we had an amazing encounter with the St Lucian Parrot! Three parrots perched in a tree right above us and jumping around and squawking, I’m pretty sure at us but we did mind. It was crazy and not a very common thing to see. We were very lucky. My mom also helped me get ready for Christmas Programme that the branch had the Sunday before Christmas. We had musical numbers from members and missionaries and had 2 recent converts read the story of Christ’s birth. There was quite of bit of rehearsal needed so we practiced and practiced with all the groups involved. The primary, Elders and Sister Missionaries sang, a young and brave girl sang a beautiful solo and the Relief Society was more than happy to share a song. I was relieved everything came together since when we arrived the morning of, the church had no power. We have an electronic keyboard for a piano so you can imagine my horror. Lucians love to sing but they are better with a piano. But the power returned in time and things went well. I wish I could tell you about the concluding speaker, our new Mission President but my mother and I got out of there before the end of the meeting. I felt so rude doing that but it was worth it. We caught a ride with my host mom and headed up North to catch a ferry to Martinique! I was trying to be excited but I was so stressed about missing the ferry. There were so many stories of the ferry leaving early and we were cutting it close. We got to Castries and picked up our tickets and made it on the ferry in time. 2 other volunteers from the new group were there as well which turned out to be a huge blessing later. The hour and a half long ferry ride was a lot more rough then I thought it would be but it was nice standing on the deck outside. It was a beautiful, Sunday and we were glittering with salt crusted all over us when we arrived. It was all worth it. Martinique is really unique. Such a strange balance between Europe and the Caribbean. Martinique is owned and a part of France. It is France and you get the impression very clearly. One of these indicators is the fact that few, very few, people were willing to or maybe were not able to try and help us out in English. I know little to none (closer to none) French and mom had some French locked away from high school which sometimes came out in Spanish. We had such a fun time trying to get around and communicate. I don’t mind looking like a fool so we fumbled out way through and I did get to learn some valuable phrases like “I’m sorry, I don’t speak French. Do you speak English?” The 2 volunteers that came however were – I would say – fluent and really saved us when we first arrived. They had rented a villa outside of Fort de France (the capital where we were staying) so we stuck with them and got something to eat before they took a taxi out. It was a little hard to find something to eat since the whole city was shut down. It felt like a ghost town. Sunday afternoons are not the best time to be out. But with our French experts, we managed to find a crepe shop at the Le Savan Park. Turned out to be a delicious and perfect place to watch the city change to night. As we were eating, families and children began to appear and soon the park was full of happy people playing and walking. It was surreal to see, especially living in St Lucia for so long. It was so safe and happy and delightful. My favorite part though was a scene with these rougher looking guys playing some loud Caribbean music from a speaker and they were the only reminder to me that we were even in the Caribbean at all (the city seriously looked European). Anyway, low and behold a group of at least 7 police officers appeared and searched the men and after a small and heated argument, were told to turn down the music. And they did. WHAT??? That was when I really was able to accept that we were in France because that would never happen in any other Caribbean Island. The rest of our time was full of exploring, walking, eating so many yummy things and my favourite, shopping!! We went to two malls, so shameful but the shops were so pretty and the European clothes were so nice. The malls were even decked out in Christmas décor. I really needed this getaway. Our hotel we stayed at was charming, old and full of quirks. It was in the perfect location, in the heart of downtown and right across from the happy, utopia park. We even got a continental French breakfast every morning. We got brave and also took the local buses around the outskirts of town. One trip we took was a plan B but was really splendid. We only had to ask a million people in our very lacking French for directions to which bus we need but we finally found it and headed to Le Jardin de Balata, a beautiful and well-kept botanical garden. You needed a map, it was a maze of themed gardens and ponds and was high up in the mountains. The best was the ending, a walk through the trees! They had suspended rope bridges you could walk up in the canopy. It was a wonderful adventure.
If I had to say one disappointing thing about Martinique, it was the fact that it was a Caribbean get away for Europeans so there was still a lot of Caribbean touristy things and Caribbean food. It makes sense. It was just what I wanted to get away from, just for a little while. I was just not too happy to have ground provisions and salt fish served when we went to a nice restaurant at our hotel. Still delicious though and we had our fill of crepes and pastries too, don’t worry. It was so sad to go. We left early for the ferry since we were still scared of missing it. Things were ok until it was check in time. I won’t try to describe what we saw that day but it was pure chaos and a very Lucian experience. The majority of the passengers were Lucians returning home with their European spoils. The ferry ride back was much different than the one we came on. There was a storm and lots of rain and everyone was miserable. Customs back on St Lucia was a disaster and we finally reached home after dark, way later than we thought. We left Martinique at around 2:30pm and got home around 8pm. We waited in that customs line for the majority of the time.
We didn’t get much of a rest after that because the following day we hosted a Christmas Eve party for the sister missionaries and one of my fellow volunteers. We baked and cooked all morning and cleaned the house. We even successfully made sorrel, a local and holiday drink where you soak these deep red flower pods and add spices like cinnamon and ginger. Our Christmas Eve feast was delicious, especially the picnic ham we got. If you don’t know what that is, it’s an economical choice to real ham and is made up of a part of the pig’s shoulder that is smoked to give it that yummy ham flavour. It was also the only choice at the store so we enjoyed it. After, we made gingerbread houses the traditional way with real gingerbread we baked, royal icing and candy mom brought. We also had a present swap game to play and everyone had a really wonderful time. I could tell everyone was missing home so the night was a success in trying to cheer them up. The sisters returned the next day to skype their families which turned out to be quite a sad event for them, each call ending in sobs and tears. It’s hard being a missionary.
My friend Jaclynn came on Christmas day and we enjoyed Christmas and my mom’s last night here together. The next day, there was a Christmas party at the church and from there, we dropped mom off at the airport. The next day turned into a week of sickness with a sinus cold for me. I was lucky to have Jaclynn there to take care of me. We had a nice New Years in since I was sick and there isn’t much done to celebrate New Years here anyway. We finally had a chance out of the house later in the week and had a fun get away at Coconut Bay, the resort here in the south. We had a day full of swimming and relaxing and eating until we almost burst. It was hard to walk to the bus stop. With a not so eager heart, I returned back to school that Monday. I know the rest of my 5 months at school will fly by and I can feel my time here ending soon. I hope I can make the most of it. It’s such a strange feeling to be leaving this life I have here. I will try not to dwell on it. Not yet.
Caribbean Kim 